Tag Archives: Suspense

I’ve been following the career of Thor Moreno for a couple of years now with a great deal of enjoyment and entertainment. He’s a director who is not interested in trying to impress with bizarre and ultimately meaningless camera tricks to distract the viewer. He wants to tell a story and he wants to communicate that story as best he can with zero confusion. And as a writer he understands that there’s no reason for the actors to tell the audience what it is that they’re looking at on the screen. So instead he uses it to clarify and illuminate character and communicate information that we can’t see.

This works very well in KULTUS which is a mystery wrapped in an enigma and it’s one that I particularly enjoyed because I’ve been desperately missing the kind of mystery film where the investigator has to solve the crime using brainpower, life experience and a keen understanding of the human psyche instead of with computers and DNA. The pair of investigators we follow in KULTUS do indeed both have more than their share of brains, understanding and experience and it’s just as interesting seeing how they work together as it is to watch them solve the mystery.

The mystery begins with the disappearance of Beverly, a writer (Annette Duffy) who is trying to get out from under the cloud of alcoholism. She picks up on the story of a family found murdered in a house located on a North Pacific Indian reservation. The family’s mother is missing and she’s presumed to have either committed the crime herself or was carried off by whoever did it. Beverly thinks there’s more to it than that and moves into their house to try and discover what happened to them. Pretty soon she’s so far into the mystery that she suspects the solution may be more terrifying than the mystery itself.

Beverly herself goes missing and FBI agent Curtis (Jason Rainwater) is teamed up with civilian consultant Agatha (Kim Grimaldi) a woman of multiple protean talents and fearsome intelligence to find out what happened to Beverly and by extension, the family as well. It’s a case that will prove both baffling and frightening as well as highly personal for Agatha.

There’s an awful lot I liked about KULTUS. The location shooting in Eureka, California is quite beautiful and contrasts very well with the darkness of the story. Annette Duffy and Kim Grimaldi both walk away sharing the acting honors for this one. Annette Duffy has a wonderfully expressive face and eyes that work together to convey a variety of emotions, all at the same time that easily gets across on the screen that Beverly’s screws are coming loose the longer she stays in the house. For a while we don’t know if there’s something really going on in the house or if Beverly just wants to get back to gettin’ her drink on. Miss Duffy is a tremendously appealing actress who provided me with something that doesn’t happen to me often when I’m watching a movie of this genre: she made me jump out of my seat twice. The second time is in a blood-freezing moment that I’m positive is Thor’s homage to a similar scene in “The Exorcist III”

By the time the movie was over I wanted to watch another one with Kim Grimaldi’s Agatha solving another mystery. We’ve seen this kind of character before: the hyper-intelligent social outsider who has a short-circuited emotional switchboard. But I don’t recall ever seeing this kind of character played by a woman. And thanks to Kim Grimaldi’s talent, we never look at Agatha as just being a man with breasts. She never lets us forget that Agatha is quite a woman indeed. Especially in two interrogation scenes. In one, Agatha demonstrates a great deal of empathy towards a child and in the other, just watch her facial expressions as a woman describes to Agatha and Curtis how her son killed her husband. I dunno know if Miss Grimaldi intended it to be funny but I sure as hell laughed.

Don’t let me give you the impression that the rest of the cast slouch on their jobs. One of the best things about a Thor Moreno movie is his casting. His people in his movies look like…well, like people. The men aren’t impossibly handsome or the women supernaturally beautiful. They look like people you could conceivably see walking on the streets where you live. His actors have faces that have experience and been lived in. It gives an added weight to the movie and draws me deeper into the story I’m watching because these people look real, know what I mean? And they play it real. There’s a lot of good actors in this movie who deserve to be better known.

KULTUS isn’t out in theaters yet but it’ll be in limited release in June. I’ll keep you posted as to exactly when and where but in the meantime, look for Thor Moreno’s other movies. They’re available on DVD or online at: https://www.indiereign.com/

Before we get into the actual review a brief history lesson: The Made-For-TV Movie is a phrase you don’t hear much these days but it was used all the time back in the 1960’s and especially during the 1970’s when ABC, CBS and NBC who at that time were The Big Three of programming got into the business of producing their own movies specifically made for a television audience and tailored for 90 minute prime time broadcast television viewing slots. Which meant that no longer did they have to rely on movies they purchased from Hollywood movie studios. Now all three networks had their own special movie night but the one that most people remember is the “ABC Movie Of The Week” which aired from 1969 to 1976 on Tuesday nights. ABC had other movies nights such as their Sunday Night Movie but those were generally theatrical features. And of course there was the long-running and classic “The 4:30 Movie” which had an opening credit that was so popular it eventually was adopted as the opening for all of ABC’s late night movies:

And then of course there’s the opening for The Tuesday Night Movies itself:

Now, yes, most of ABC’s Tuesday Movie Of The Week’s movies were forgettable, disposal entertainment. Many TV series such as “The Six Million Dollar Man” “Alias Smith and Jones” “The Immortal” and “Starsky and Hutch” made their debut as 90 minute pilot films here. And then you had a whole truckload of movies that are still remembered and indeed have become legendary in pop entertainment culture. “The Love War” “Brian’s Song” which is still hailed today as one of the best football movies ever made and a movie that guys unashamedly admit they cry when they watch it. “The Night Stalker” which along with “Duel” and “Trilogy of Terror” makes up The Holy Trinity of Made-For-TV horror movies. “A Cold Night’s Death” which is a movie that screams to be remade. “The Legend of Lizzie Borden” starring Elizabeth Montgomery. “Get Christie Love!” “Bad Ronald.” And then there’s the movie we’re going to talk about now: HAUNTS OF THE VERY RICH.

Why HAUNTS OF THE VEY RICH you ask? I remember seeing this years ago back in the 70’s as it was a movie that somebody in ABC’s programming department either liked a lot or they got frequent requests to air it. You have to remember that this was an era that was even pre-VCR so the only way you could rewatch a movie if it was broadcast again. And HAUNTS OF THE VERY RICH was a movie that got quite a bit of airplay during the 70’s. It’s not a classic by any means but it is an awfully intriguing premise with some solid performances. And for those of you reading this who are “Lost” fans then this is a movie you might like to check out as I see a lot of similarities between that TV show and this movie.

An eclectic group of tourists are flying to a mysterious tropical resort called The Portals of Eden. Each of them have brochures that appear to be tailored to their specific desires. All except for Al Hunsicker (Ed Asner) who was supposed to be on a flight to Texas for an important business meeting. Dave Woodrough (Lloyd Bridges) is an aging ladies’ man who’s looking for another sexual conquest and thinks he’s found it in Ellen Blunt (Cloris Leachman) an emotionally needy woman obsessed with her appearance and thinks that The Portals of Eden is a beauty spa. Annette Larrier (Anne Francis) is looking for somewhere she can recover from her nervous breakdown which probably was caused by her husband and kids. Lyle (Tony Bill) and Laurie (Donna Mills) are newlyweds who only want to spend their honeymoon doing what honeymooners do. The Reverend John Fellows (Robert Reed) is suffering a crisis of spirit and hopes that by participating in a peyote ritual performed by the local Indians he can have a religious vision that will restore his faith.

The resort’s host, Mr. Seacrist (Moses Gunn) at first seems a most genial and amiable sort. But that’s before things start to go wrong. First there’s a hurricane that wipes out their communications with the outside world. Their supplies and fresh drinking water start to dwindle. The resort staff abandons them. The guests are left alone with nothing and nobody to rely on but each other. And the more desperate their situation becomes, the calmer Mr. Seacrist becomes. Any and all attempts at rescue or to get help are frustrated and the little band begins to turn on each other as their idyllic dream vacation turns into Hell. And soon, that’s exactly what Ellen and Dave start to think as they discover that everybody has had a brush with death shortly before coming to the island.

Are they all dead and in Hell or some kind of Purgatory? There’s a lot of evidence to indicate so but there’s as much evidence to the opposite. Maybe they’re just a buncha folks with some truly shitty luck in picking vacation spots…but then there’s the dead body that apparently gets up and walks away and one of their number who tries to commit suicide and loses way more blood than a human can reasonably lose and still live….

I’m probably making HAUNTS OF THE VERY RICH seem way more interesting than it really is but while watching it I couldn’t help but think of this as a “Lost” prequel where The Dharma Initiative has brought these people to their island as part of an experiment. What kind of experiment I have no idea but if you decide to watch the movie we can argue about it later.

The acting in this movie is quite strong, especially from dependable pros like Ed Asner who is set up to be the typical stereotyped loud-mouth but develops into a really reasonable character who treats his situation the way I expect a businessman would and doesn’t just rely on his mouth to do his thinking. He and Lloyd Bridges have a couple of nice scenes where they’re discussing their situation as they both turn out to be the natural leaders in this kind of situation. Cloris Leachman is an actress who has never really impressed me in anything she’s done but in this movie I find her amazingly good and she convinced me to invest in her character. But who walks away with the acting honors in this movie? Mr. Brady himself; Robert Reed. And he does it in an amazing scene near the end when he describes what happened to him during the peyote ceremony and explains to each and every one of the other guests why they think they’re dead and in Hell and why they think they’re alive and not in Hell. The man owns the scene from start to finish and it’s worth watching the movie just for that scene. If you only know Robert Reed from “The Brady Bunch” you watch that scene and you can’t believe it’s the same guy. It’s that good a scene.

So should you see HAUNTS OF THE VERY RICH? It won’t cost you a thing because you can see it on YouTube and I’ve provided a link below. But if you don’t want to watch it, it’s no biggie. But it does have a solid story and good performances. And as I said, if you’re a “Lost” fan and want to look upon this as a prequel, I think it more than works in that context. Enjoy.

In the first thirty seconds of the 2010 remake of AND SOON THE DARKNESS we see a bound, near naked woman doused with water and then whipped with a live electrical wire until she collapses into unconsciousness. That told me right there that the writers and the director of this remake were going to throw out everything that the writers and director of the original had done to make their movie unusual, unique and suspenseful.

This version of AND SOON THE DARKNESS follows the basic plot of the original, transferring the setting from rural France to rural Argentina and making the girls American instead of English.. Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Elle (Odette Yustman) are part of a bike tour of that country. They decide to split off from the group and go their own way for a bit, intending to catch a bus the next day and rejoin the group. They stay the night at a hotel where Elle persuades Stephanie to come with her to hang out at the local bar. Stephanie’s promiscuous behavior gets her the wrong kind of attention and she’s rescued by Michael (Karl Urban) another American staying at the hotel.

The next day, while biking, Elle wants to stop by a riverbank and sunbathe. Stephanie reluctantly agrees. After a couple of hours, she’s ready to go but Elle still wants to hang out there. This leads to an argument and Stephanie angrily rides off, leaving Elle alone. After she cools off a bit, she returns to the riverbank to find Elle gone, only her cell phone still on the ground where she had been sunbathing.

Now, unlike the original where we never learn the fate of the kidnapped girl until the last ten minutes of the movie, the remake has no problem letting us know that Elle has been kidnapped by the guy she was foolin’ around with in the bar last night. He’s the muscle of a gang who snatches girls and sells them across the river to a white slavery ring in Paraguay.

Stephanie frantically tries to get help from the local police chief, Calvo (Cesar Vianco) who poo-poohs away Stephanie’s urgent pleas for him to form a search party. “A search party?” Calvo says with a chuckle. “Where do you think you are? America?”

Stephanie finally gets help from (surprise, surprise, surprise) Michael who has been in Argentina for six months looking for his girlfriend who also disappeared. Together they decide to track down Elle themselves and maybe find Michael’s girlfriend as well.

Like I said earlier, everything that made the first movie unique has been ruthlessly stripped away to leave only a standard middle of the road thriller than doesn’t thrill at all. The way this movie unfolds and the way the story is told in such a blatant fashion I can easily imagine a group of suburban white families pooling their money together to finance this movie for the sole purpose of showing it to their daughters: “See? See? This is what happens when you go to foreign countries, get drunk and fool around with boys who don’t speak English!”

That nasty subtext is very strong in the movie and I also didn’t like how the script goes out of its way to depict Elle’s carefree indulgence in drinking and promiscuity as justification for what happens to her. And unlike the original, many of the locals speak English. Part of what added to the feeling of paranoia and isolation in the original was that none of the locals spoke any English.

Karl Urban does his best with what he’s given and like the professional he is, he comes out of this movie with the acting honors. Karl Urban is on my list of actors who even if they’re trapped in a really shitty movie more than pulls his weight and delivers a good performance and he does so here. And I’m glad that I saw Amber Heard in “Drive Angry” before seeing this movie as I might well have passed up watching that highly superior movie if I had watched AND SOON THE DARKNESS first. If you want to see Amber Heard in a really good movie, go watch “Drive Angry” and leave the remake of AND SOON THE DARKNESS alone. It’s a totally unnecessary remake that does not entertain one little bit. Go watch the 1970 original if you want to see a really good thriller.

I like the work of David Mamet a lot. He’s a writer who knows how to write extraordinarily good dialog and no two characters in any of his works sound the same. His movies are enjoyable just to listen to, not to mention their complex stories and plots. I loved “House Of Games” which was about a psychologist delving into the world of con men and finding out she doesn’t know as much about psychology as she thought she did and I’ve seen THE SPANISH PRISONER twice now and you would think that after watching one time it would be spoiled for me but it wasn’t. Even knowing what was going on and how the movie ended I found myself still being totally engrossed in what was happening and I credit that to the meticulously crafted story and terrific performances. A lot of modern suspense movies are labeled ‘Hitchcockian’ but THE SPANISH PRISONER is one of the few that I can say actually deserves to be compared with Hitchcock’s best work.

Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) is a brilliant scientist flown down to Bermuda with his partner George Lang (Ricky Jay) by their boss Mr. Klein (Ben Gazzara) for the purpose of giving a group of investors an update on ‘The Process’ Joe has invented. We’re never told what ‘The Process’ is and it really doesn’t matter. ‘The Process’ is the movie’s ‘MacGuffin’, which was Hitchcock’s term for whatever it was that got the plot rolling. The important thing we need to know is that ‘The Process’ is worth a whole lot of money. How much? We never find that out either but during the meeting with the investors, Joe writes a figure on the blackboard that we don’t see but the investors react as if they’ve seen Jesus bring forth Lazarus.

Joe tries to engage Mr. Klein in discussion as to just how much of a bonus Joe and George can expect but Mr. Klein is suspiciously vague and just keeps reassuring Joe that he’ll be taken care of. While this is going on, Joe is trying to puzzle out the really weird conversations his new secretary (Rebecca Pidgeon) assigned to him keeps initiating and he meets Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin) a New York businessman who is in Bermuda having an affair with his partner’s wife. Jimmy asks Joe to deliver a package to New York for him. The package is meant for Jimmy’s sister but as Jimmy says later on, that was just an excuse so that Joe could meet Jimmy’s sister. Jimmy likes Joe and thinks he’d be good for her. Problem is, every time Joe’s supposed to meet her, she never shows up. And while this may not seem like much, it proves to be very important later on. Because while the friendship between Joe and Jimmy grows in surprising ways, Joe is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way Mr. Klein is treating him and all these elements make up the first half of the movie which may seem slow and nothing much happens but you’ve really got to pay attention because the second half is where it all pays off.

The problem with reviewing a movie like THE SPANISH PRISONER is this: everything depends on a first time viewer going into it cold, without having any idea of what it’s about because the story is put together so well that going into too much detail could unintentially spoil the experience of seeing it for the first time and I wouldn’t dream of doing that. THE SPANISH PRISONER is a movie made for people who love the kind of plot that demands your attention. It’s a thinking person’s suspense thriller and one you can’t shut your brain off on and coast along on autopilot. And if you watch it with somebody who insists on talking while watching movies, kick ‘em the hell out of the room. It’s not that kind of movie. You miss something and you’ve missed a lot.

The performances are all absolutely first rate with Steve Martin easily walking away with the top acting honors. Steve Martin is so good in this that if I had watched this without knowing a thing about Martin’s history as a comedian, I would have taken him for a career dramatic actor. Yes, he is that good in this role. He plays it absolutely straight with respect for the story and the character and it works supremely well. Campbell Scott is an extremely appealing hero. He’s a genius, yes, but he’s also a bit slow and dim when it comes to dealing with people and he’s charmingly simple and uncomplicated. None of which helps him when he finds out what kind of shark pool he’s been thrown into and he has to smarten up damn fast if he wants to stay alive.

Rebecca Pidgeon plays Susan Ricci, the secretary and it’s the quirkiest, most eccentric performance in the movie. She’s got an unusual way of talking and finishes her sentences as if she’s waiting to be patted on the head and told she’s a good girl. Some of her scenes were irritating and others downright strange but by the time you get to the end, they make sense. Ed O’Neal has a small but pivotal role. I was disappointed that Ricky Jay didn’t have more screen time but he makes the best of it, dropping several lines of beautifully quotable dialog such as: “Beware of all enterprises which require new clothes”.

So should you watch THE SPANISH PRISONER ? I’d most certainly say yes if you’re in the mood for a brain twisting labyrinth of a thriller where nothing and nobody is as it seems with wonderful dialog and great performances. Turn your brain on and enjoy.